In honor of Croatia reaching the World Cup final, a tribute thread to Croatian football from a long-time admirer.
It started in 1990, as a Brazil fan heart-broken by Argentina robbing Brazil in the 2nd round, I wanted Yugoslavia to beat them in the quarter-finals. In spite of playing with 10 men for most the match, Yugoslavia came very close to winning on penalties...
Maradonna missed his penalty that day, and the young Yugoslavs, many of whom had won the under-21 world cup a year ago, were really impressive. I wanted to see more of them in coming tournaments... But the Yugoslav war had other plans for that generation of Yugoslavians.
A few months before that World Cup, Yugoslavia began to fall apart, and the great Zvonimir Boban, who was to become one of the best players in the world, may have played a pivotal role when he kicked a policeman in a Zagreb-Belgrade match riot:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinamo%E2…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinamo%E2…
Yugoslavia qualified for the 1992 European championship ahead of Denmark. It wouldn't be the last time a Yugoslavian destroys a Schmeichel...
But as the war was beginning and the UN placed sporting sanctions on Yugoslavia, UEFA suspended them from the tournament and gave their spot to Denmark. Denmark would win the championship in what was the biggest shock in international tournaments until Greece in 2004.
The sanctions meant Yugoslavs couldn't participate in the 1994 World Cup, and the world missed on seeing what was arguable the greatest team that never was, at its prime: Boban, Prosinecki, Savisevic, Mihajlovic, Jugovic, Boksic, Jarni, Stimac and more
theguardian.com/football/2007/…
theguardian.com/football/2007/…
In 1996, with the country split-up, a hot new team entered the European championship in their iconic red & white checkered shirts. The great Suker would avenge Schmeichel and Denmark taking their 1992 spot with this filthy chip. I was footballingly smitten
The Croats would unfortunately lose to Germany in the second-round, after being reduced to 10 men, but they had won the respect of the world and gotten the sort of heart-break that motivates a team on to achieve great things...
In the 1998 World Cup, Croatia would meet Germany in the quarter-final, and would destroy them 3-0, with Davor Suker putting in the performance of a lifetime.
Croatia would then narrowly lose the semi-final to France, after Lilian Thuram had what seemed like a spiritual experience, playing in a trance, scoring the only two goals of his international career. Fodder for another revenge, hopefully
theguardian.com/football/2010/…
theguardian.com/football/2010/…
A few years of underperformance followed, but by 2008 a new generation of Croats would again defeat Germany, with the young Modric and Rakitic making a name for themselves, and then astonishingly lose to Turkey in a crazy match.
In 2014, a good Croatian team was robbed by terrible pro-home crows refereeing against Brazil, and a gruelling travel schedule that saw them play all over the country including a trip to the Amazon.
Now, in 2018, Croatia have beaten Nigeria, destroyed Messi's Argentina by 3 goals, and had their second team handily beat Iceland. They beat Denmark (again) in the 2nd round, with Peter Schmeichel's son, Kasper, in goal this time, for old times' sake & extra revenge for 1992.
After beating hosts Russia in the Quarter final, and England in the semi-final, Croatia now find themselves in the final against the nemesis that defeated them in the biggest in their footballing history in the 1998 semi.
France are favorites and have incredibly talented players, but they've not looked like an impressive or coherent team this year.
Don't bet against the Croats doing to France what they've repeatedly done to the Germans and the Danes before: taking sweet revenge!
Don't bet against the Croats doing to France what they've repeatedly done to the Germans and the Danes before: taking sweet revenge!
Croatia are the smallest nation to reach the final since Uruguay in 1950, a simpler time when fewer countries took part & countries' populations were smaller. Their achievement so far is outstanding, but a victory would be the most astonishing achievement in World Cup history.
